IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/bejeap/v9y2009i1n52.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Trade and Variety in a Model of Endogenous Product Differentiation

Author

Listed:
  • Lorz Oliver

    (RWTH Aachen University)

  • Wrede Matthias

    (University of Marburg)

Abstract

This paper sets up a model of endogenous product differentiation to analyze the variety effects of international trade. In our model multi-product firms decide not only about the number of varieties they will supply but also about the degree of horizontal differentiation between these varieties. Firms can raise the degree of differentiation by investing variety-specific fixed costs. In this setting, we analyze how trade integration, i.e. an increase in market size, influences the number of firms in the market, the number of product varieties supplied by each firm, and the degree of differentiation between these varieties.

Suggested Citation

  • Lorz Oliver & Wrede Matthias, 2009. "Trade and Variety in a Model of Endogenous Product Differentiation," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 1-14, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:9:y:2009:i:1:n:52
    DOI: 10.2202/1935-1682.2177
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.2202/1935-1682.2177
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2202/1935-1682.2177?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nocke, Volker & Yeaple, Stephen, 2008. "Globalization and the Size Distribution of Multiproduct Firms," CEPR Discussion Papers 6948, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Carsten Eckel, 2009. "Endogenous Sunk Costs, Flexible Manufacturing and the Productivity Effects of International Trade," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 111(2), pages 369-386, June.
    3. Ulrich Doraszelski & Michaela Draganska, 2006. "Market Segmentation Strategies Of Multiproduct Firms," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 125-149, March.
    4. John Baldwin & Wulong Gu, 2009. "The Impact of Trade on Plant Scale, Production-Run Length and Diversification," NBER Chapters, in: Producer Dynamics: New Evidence from Micro Data, pages 557-592, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Marc J. Melitz & Giancarlo I. P. Ottaviano, 2021. "Market Size, Trade, and Productivity," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Firms and Workers in a Globalized World Larger Markets, Tougher Competition, chapter 4, pages 87-108, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    6. Ottaviano, G.I.P. & Thisse, J.-F., 1999. "Monopolistic Competition, Multiproduct Firms and Optimum Product Diversity," Economics Working Papers eco99/31, European University Institute.
    7. Carsten Eckel, 2006. "Trade and Diversity: Is There a Case for ‘Cultural Protectionism?’," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 7(4), pages 403-418, November.
    8. Carsten Eckel & J. Peter Neary, 2010. "Multi-Product Firms and Flexible Manufacturing in the Global Economy," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 77(1), pages 188-217.
    9. Carsten Eckel, 2006. "Trade and Diversity: Is There a Case for ‘Cultural Protectionism?’," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 7(4), pages 403-418, November.
    10. Volker Nocke & Stephen Yeaple, 2006. "Globalization and Endogenous Firm Scope," NBER Working Papers 12322, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Andrew B. Bernard & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2011. "Multiproduct Firms and Trade Liberalization," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(3), pages 1271-1318.
    12. Hélène Erkel-Rousse, 1997. "Endogenous Differentiation Strategies, Comparative Advantage and the Volume of Trade," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 47, pages 121-149.
    13. Simon P. Anderson & André De Palma, 2006. "Market Performance With Multiproduct Firms," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 95-124, March.
    14. Allanson, Paul & Montagna, Catia, 2005. "Multiproduct firms and market structure: An explorative application to the product life cycle," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 23(7-8), pages 587-597, September.
    15. Marc J. Melitz, 2003. "The Impact of Trade on Intra-Industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(6), pages 1695-1725, November.
    16. Brambilla, Irene, 2009. "Multinationals, technology, and the introduction of varieties of goods," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 89-101, September.
    17. Robert Feenstra & Hong Ma, 2007. "Optimal Choice of Product Scope for Multiproduct Firms under Monopolistic Competition," NBER Working Papers 13703, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Timothy Dunne & J. Bradford Jensen & Mark J. Roberts, 2009. "Producer Dynamics: New Evidence from Micro Data," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number dunn05-1, March.
    19. repec:adr:anecst:y:1997:i:47:p:07 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Luciano Fanti & Luca Gori, 2024. "A product innovation game with managerial delegation," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 45(2), pages 770-783, March.
    2. Shon M. Ferguson, 2015. "Endogenous Product Differentiation, Market Size and Prices," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(1), pages 45-61, February.
    3. Irlacher, Michael, 2014. "Multi-Product Firms, Endogenous Sunk Costs, and Gains from Trade through Intra-Firm Adjustments," Discussion Papers in Economics 21023, University of Munich, Department of Economics.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thierry Mayer & Marc J. Melitz & Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, 2021. "Market Size, Competition, and the Product Mix of Exporters," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Firms and Workers in a Globalized World Larger Markets, Tougher Competition, chapter 5, pages 109-150, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6g0gsihsjmn5snc9pb0jo6hhp is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Eckel, Carsten & Iacovone, Leonardo & Javorcik, Beata & Neary, J. Peter, 2015. "Multi-product firms at home and away: Cost- versus quality-based competence," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 216-232.
    4. Egger, Peter H. & Li, Jie & Wu, Han, 2023. "Firms’ entry choices across export products and markets, and the consequences of trade in an open economy: Evidence from China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 243-262.
    5. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/c8dmi8nm4pdjkuc9g8m210prh is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Andrew B. Bernard & J. Bradford Jensen & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2012. "The Empirics of Firm Heterogeneity and International Trade," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 4(1), pages 283-313, July.
    7. Ramon Caminal & Lluís M. Granero, 2012. "Multi‐product Firms and Product Variety," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 79(314), pages 303-328, April.
    8. Melitz, Marc J. & Redding, Stephen J., 2014. "Heterogeneous Firms and Trade," Handbook of International Economics, in: Gopinath, G. & Helpman, . & Rogoff, K. (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 1-54, Elsevier.
    9. Robert Elliott & Supreeya Virakul, 2010. "Multi-product firms and exporting: a developing country perspective," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 146(4), pages 635-656, December.
    10. Andrew B. Bernard & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2011. "Multiproduct Firms and Trade Liberalization," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(3), pages 1271-1318.
    11. Iacovone, Leonardo & Rauch, Ferdinand & Winters, L. Alan, 2013. "Trade as an engine of creative destruction: Mexican experience with Chinese competition," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(2), pages 379-392.
    12. Nocke, Volker & Yeaple, Stephen, 2008. "Globalization and the Size Distribution of Multiproduct Firms," CEPR Discussion Papers 6948, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Colin J. Hottman & Stephen J. Redding & David E. Weinstein, 2016. "Quantifying the Sources of Firm Heterogeneity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(3), pages 1291-1364.
    14. Pinelopi K Goldberg & Amit K Khandelwal & Nina Pavcnik & Petia Topalova, 2010. "Multiproduct Firms and Product Turnover in the Developing World: Evidence from India," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(4), pages 1042-1049, November.
    15. Itai Agur, 2010. "Trade Liberalization, Firm Selection, and Variety Growth," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(3), pages 582-594, August.
    16. Ushchev, Philip, 2017. "Multi-product firms in monopolistic competition: The role of scale-scope spillovers," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(4), pages 675-689.
    17. Qiu, Larry D. & Zhou, Wen, 2013. "Multiproduct firms and scope adjustment in globalization," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 142-153.
    18. Minniti, Antonio & Turino, Francesco, 2013. "Multi-product firms and business cycle dynamics," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 75-97.
    19. Sadayuki Takii, . "Import Penetration, Export Orientation and Plant Size in Indonesian Manufacturing," Chapters, in: Chin Hee Hahn & Dionisius A. Narjoko (ed.), Globalization and Performance of Small and Large Firms, chapter 6, pages VI-1 - VI, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).
    20. Tomasz Serwach, 2011. "Od handlu między państwami do handlu na poziomie przedsiębiorstw," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 3, pages 47-65.
    21. Antoine Berthou & Lionel Fontagné, 2013. "How do Multiproduct Exporters React to a Change in Trade Costs?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 115(2), pages 326-353, April.
    22. Lopresti, John, 2016. "Multiproduct firms and product scope adjustment in trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 160-173.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:9:y:2009:i:1:n:52. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.